Dynamic user interface for previewing live content

ABSTRACT

A dynamic user interface for previewing live content includes multiple tiles. A selection can be received from a user to define a tiled user interface layout that includes the multiple tiles each configured to display content from an associated content gallery. The content can be displayed on the multiple tiles in the tiled user interface layout, and one or more of the tiles change over time to display different pieces of the content from the associated content gallery of a tile.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/251,692 filed Oct. 3, 2011, which is acontinuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/821,604 filed Jun. 25, 2007. The disclosures of these relatedapplications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

As computers have become increasingly powerful and increasinglyinter-connected, the amount of content available to users has alsogrown. This available content spans a wide range of types of content,including music, videos, movies, pictures, text, and so forth. However,one problem users face in viewing this content is knowing what contentis available. Users can navigate to various locations, such as over theInternet, to find content but such navigation can be time consuming forthe user and the manner in which such content is displayed to the usercan be very user-unfriendly.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

A dynamic user interface for previewing live content is describedherein. In accordance with one or more aspects, information for multiplepieces of live content available from a gallery is obtained. Thisinformation is presented in multiple tiles of a user interface inaccordance with a current user interface layout. Additionally, thiscurrent user interface layout changes automatically over time as theuser interface is displayed.

In accordance with one or more aspects, information for multiple piecesof live content available from a gallery is identified. This informationis presented in multiple tiles of a current user interface in accordancewith a current user interface layout. The multiple tiles have differentsizes, and one or more of the multiple tiles is displayed in the userinterface more prominently than the other tiles. Which information is tobe displayed in the one or more tiles being based at least in part on areceived fee.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to reference likefeatures.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system using the dynamic user interfacefor previewing live content discussed herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example series of tiled user interfaces.

FIG. 3 illustrates another example system using the dynamic userinterface for previewing live content discussed herein.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example user interface for previewing livecontent.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for displaying auser interface for previewing live content for a gallery.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for generating auser interface for display for previewing live content for a gallery.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example computing device that can be configured toimplement the dynamic user interface for previewing live content inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A dynamic user interface for previewing live content is discussedherein. The content that is currently available from a content source isreferred to as live content. Information regarding the live content isretrieved and a user interface is generated that presents a preview ofthe live content to a user. The user interface includes multiple tilesthat each correspond to a piece of the live content. These multipletiles can have different sizes, shapes, and/or orientations.Additionally, the locations in which the tiles are displayed, as well asthe size, shape, and/or orientation of the tiles, can be changed overtime to create a moving, changing user interface.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 100 using the dynamic userinterface for previewing live content discussed herein. System 100includes a user interface (UI) module 102 that generates a tiled userinterface 104. User interface module 102 can be implemented as part ofanother component or module, such as part of a web browser, part of afile system, part of a search engine, and so forth. Alternatively,module 102 can be implemented as a standalone component or module.

The information displayed in user interface 104 is a preview of the livecontent that is available from one of multiple (m) galleries 106(1), . .. , 106(m). Each gallery 106, also referred to as a content source,includes multiple pieces of content. As illustrated, gallery 106(1)includes multiple (x) content pieces 108(1), . . . , 108(x), and gallery106(m) includes multiple (y) content pieces 110(1), . . . , 110(y). Thequantity of content pieces included in different galleries 106 can vary.

Content pieces 108 and 110 can be any of a variety of different types ofcontent. The types of content 108 and 110 that can be used in system 100include any type of content that can be used by a computing device, suchas video content, image content, audio content, text content, and soforth. Additionally, a particular piece of content may include two ormore different types of content (e.g., video content and audio content).Different galleries 106 can include different types of content.Additionally, the content pieces included in a particular gallery 106may all be the same type of content, or alternatively different types ofcontent may be included in the same gallery 106.

A piece of content refers to data that can be presented to the user. Howa piece of content is defined can vary based on the type of content aswell as the desires of the creator of the piece of content and/or thecreator or administrator of the content source. For example, a piece ofcontent may be an entire song, multiple songs, a portion(s) of a song,an entire image, a portion(s) of an image, an entire movie, a portion(s)of a movie, and so forth. Creators of different pieces of content,and/or the creator or administrator of the content source, can createthe pieces of content to be whatever they desire.

Each gallery is a source of content, and the content included in agallery can be any of a variety of different types of data. For example,a gallery can include pieces of content representing files and/orfolders that are available on a particular storage device or aparticular folder of a storage device. By way of another example, agallery can include pieces of content representing files, folders, andapplications that are available on a desktop of a computing device. Byway of yet another example, a gallery can include pieces of contentrepresenting files and/or folders that are available on a remote deviceor from a remote service. By way of still another example, a gallery caninclude pieces of content representing web pages or other objects thatare a result of a previously entered search request.

User interface module 102 obtains information for pieces of content 108or 110 from a gallery 106 and generates tiled user interface 104 to be apreview of the pieces of content available from that gallery 106. Inuser interface 104, each tile displays information for a different pieceof content. What information is obtained for a piece of content, and howthat information is displayed in a tile, can vary by implementation andcan vary based on content type (or can vary for different pieces ofcontent of the same type). In one or more embodiments, the informationis an image from the piece of content itself. This image can be theactual piece of content (e.g., if the piece of content itself is animage), or an image extracted from the actual piece of content (e.g., asingle image from a video or movie, a portion of an image, etc.). In oneor more other embodiments, the information displayed in the tile isassociated with the piece of content but need not be the actual piece ofcontent (or a portion thereof). For example, the creator of the piece ofcontent can create a preview image that is associated with the piece ofcontent and this preview image is the information displayed in the tile.Such a preview image could be stored with the piece of content as metadata, stored on the same content source as the piece of content,obtained from some other content source, and so forth.

In one or more other embodiments, other types of information can bedisplayed in a tile rather than an image. For example, a textdescription of the piece of content can be displayed in the tile. Such atext description could be created, for example, by the creator of thepiece of content and associated with the piece of content (e.g., as metadata, stored on the same content source as the piece of content, storedon some other content source, and so forth). By way of another example,one or more tiles may include audio content that is played back audiblyto the user. Accordingly, it should be noted that although the userinterface is often referred to herein as being displayed, the userinterface may also be presented in other manners (e.g., audibly). By wayof another example, the information displayed in a tile can change overtime rather than being static. This changing information can beanimation content, a slideshow of images, video content, and so forth.

It should also be noted that multiple types of information can bedisplayed in a tile. For example, a tile could include both image dataand a text description. By way of another example, a tile could includeboth a slideshow of images and audio content.

User interface module 102 can be programmed with the particular mannerin which information for pieces of contents are to be displayed intiles. For example, module 102 may be programmed to use the piece ofcontent itself for image content, select a first image from a series ofimages for video content, access a particular meta data field to obtainthe image (or other information) to be displayed, and so forth.

User interface 104 typically displays a preview of content from a singlegallery 106 at a time, although alternatively user interface 104 coulddisplay a preview of content from multiple galleries 106 concurrently.User interface module 102 can obtain information for all of the piecesof content 108 or 110 from the gallery 106 for which it is generatingthe tiled user interface, or alternatively can obtain information foronly some of the pieces of content 108 or 110. If information for onlysome of the pieces of content is being obtained, which pieces are havingtheir information obtained can be determined in different manners. Forexample, the pieces of content may have associated rankings andinformation for only the highest ranked content may be obtained,information for the most commonly accessed pieces of content may beobtained, information for whatever pieces of content have been flaggedas being most important by an administrator of the gallery may beobtained, the pieces of content for which information is to be obtainedmay be selected randomly, and so forth.

Information for all of the pieces of content that are obtained from thegallery can be displayed as part of the tiled user interface 104, oralternatively only some of the obtained information may be displayed.Similar to determining which information is to be obtained, if only someof the obtained information is displayed then which information isdisplayed can be determined in different manners. For example, thepieces of content may have associated rankings and the information forhighest ranked content may be displayed, information for the mostcommonly accessed pieces of content may be displayed, information forwhatever pieces of content have been flagged as being most important byan administrator of the gallery or by the designer of module 102 may bedisplayed, the pieces of content for which information is to bedisplayed may be selected randomly, and so forth.

User interface 104 is a tiled user interface, which refers to the userinterface being separated into multiple tiles or portions. Thesedifferent tiles can have different sizes (e.g., different dimensions,different areas, etc.) and/or different shapes. Additionally, tiles canbe rotated to different orientations so that a piece of contentdisplayed in the tile appears to be at an angle (or upside down), ratherthan being horizontal or vertical. User interface 104 is referred to asbeing dynamic because the tiles can have different sizes, shapes, and/ororientations, as well as because these sizes, shapes, and/ororientations can change as discussed in more detail below.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example series 200 of tiled user interfaces. Fourdifferent user interfaces 202, 204, 206, and 208 are illustrated in FIG.2. Each of these user interfaces 202, 204, 206, and 208 is an example ofa tiled user interface 104 of FIG. 1. Additionally, each of these userinterfaces 202, 204, 206, and 208 is organized differently, such asdifferent locations for tiles, different sizes for tiles, differentshapes for tiles, different information displayed in tiles, and soforth. User interface module 102 can transition through these differentuser interfaces 202, 204, 206, and 208, resulting in different userinterface displays for the same gallery, as discussed in more detailbelow.

In series 200, each of the user interfaces 202, 204, 206, and 208displays information for pieces of content within tiles. These tiles arelabeled as tiles 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 (although some of these tiles are notincluded in some of the user interfaces 202, 204, 206, and 208). Inseries 200, tiles having the same label display information for the samepiece of content. Typically this is the same information, although itmay alternatively be different (e.g., different information for the samepiece of content may be displayed in different tiles). Thus, both tiles3 in user interface 208 display information for the same piece ofcontent, and each tile 1 in user interface 202, 204, 206, and 208displays information for the same piece of content. It should be noted,however, that even though two tiles display information for the samepiece of content, the manner in which that information is displayed canbe different due to the tiles being different sizes, shapes, and/ororientations.

User interface 202 illustrates four tiles labeled as 0, 1, 2, and 3.Information for a first piece of content is displayed in tile 0,information for a second piece of content is displayed in tile 1,information for a third piece of content is displayed in tile 2, andinformation for a fourth piece of content is displayed in tile 3. Userinterface 204 also illustrates four tiles labeled as 0, 1, 2, and 3,although the tiles in user interface 204 are organized in a differentpattern, and have different shapes and/or sizes, than those in userinterface 202. As in user interface 202, in user interface 204 theinformation for the first piece of content is displayed in tile 0, theinformation for the second piece of content is displayed in tile 1, theinformation for the third piece of content is displayed in tile 2, andthe information for the fourth piece of content is displayed in tile 3.

User interface 206 illustrates five tiles labeled as 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4,organized in a different pattern and having different shapes and/orsizes than those in user interfaces 202 and 204. The information for thefirst piece of content is displayed in tile 0, the information for thesecond piece of content is displayed in tile 1, the information for thethird piece of content is displayed in tile 2, the information for thefourth piece of content is displayed in tile 3, and information for afifth piece of content is displayed in tile 4. User interface 208illustrates five tiles labeled as 1, 2, 3, 3, and 4, organized in adifferent pattern and having different shapes and/or sizes than those inuser interfaces 202, 204, and 206. The information for the second pieceof content is displayed in tile 1, the information for the third pieceof content is displayed in tile 2, the information for the fourth pieceof content is displayed in both tiles 3, and the information for thefifth piece of content is displayed in tile 4.

In many instances, the various tiles in a user interface are groupedtogether in a cluster. For example, tiles 1, 3, 3, and 4 in userinterface 208 are grouped together in a cluster, as are tiles 0, 1, 2,3, and 4 in user interface 206. This grouping in a cluster refers to thetiles being situated close to (e.g., adjacent) the other tiles (or manyof the other tiles) in the user interface.

Returning to FIG. 1, information for a piece of content is displayed inthe tiles of user interface 104. The information for pieces of contentdisplayed in user interface 104 represents the current content availablefrom the gallery (e.g., the pieces of content available at the time theinformation was obtained from the gallery by user interface module 102).Thus, user interface 104 presents a preview of the live contentavailable from the gallery. This live content refers to the pieces ofcontent that are actually available from the gallery rather than somepre-determined fixed image. The live content changes as the pieces ofcontent that are available from the gallery changes.

Typically, the content pieces available from a gallery change over time.Accordingly, the information for the live content that is obtained fromthe gallery and used for the tiles of the user interface can change overtime. Each time user interface module 102 obtains the information from agallery, it receives the information for the content pieces currentlyavailable from the gallery and thus has the information for the mostrecent content available from that gallery.

It should be noted that it is possible that the content pieces availablefrom a gallery may change after the information has been obtained bymodule 102 and while the user interface 104 is displaying a preview ofthat gallery. Such situations can be resolved in different manners. Inone or more embodiments, such situations are resolved by not obtainingthese newest changes; rather, the live content is deemed as being thecontent pieces available at the time the gallery is accessed by module102.

In other embodiments, module 102 may obtain these newest changes andalter user interface 104 to reflect these newest changes to the content.Module 102 can obtain the changes in different manners. For example,module 102 may repeatedly access the gallery (e.g., every second, everyfive seconds, etc.) and request the information for the current piecesof content available from the gallery, or request any changes to theinformation for the pieces of content that have been made since module102 last accessed the gallery. By way of another example, module 102 mayregister with the gallery to receive changes to the information for thepieces of content in the gallery, and when a change to the contentoccurs then the gallery sends a notification to module 102 that a changehas been made and what that change is.

Additionally, it should be noted that situations can arise where theinformation to be displayed in a tile is of a different shape or sizethan the tile in which it is to be displayed. For different sizes, theinformation can be scaled up or down as appropriate to fit the size ofthe tile. For different shapes, module 102 can clip or otherwise modifythe information to fit into the tile. Module 102 can be programmed withvarious criteria to use to perform this modification, or alternativelythe information itself may include criteria to be used to perform thismodification. For example, a tile may be circular but the image may berectangular. In such situations, module 102 can use a circular portionof the rectangular image to display in the tile.

It should also be noted that, in situations where information other thanthe actual piece of content is presented in the tiles (e.g., text,audio, a preview image associated with the piece of content, etc.), userinterface module 102 need not obtain the actual pieces of content fromthe gallery in order to generate user interface 104 as a preview of thegallery. Rather, user interface module 102 could obtain the informationbeing presented in the tiles and not obtain the remainder of the piecesof content. For example, if the information presented in user interface104 as the piece of content is a single image from video content, thenonly that single image need be obtained by user interface module 102;user interface 104 can be generated without obtaining the remainder ofthe video content.

User interface module 102 can be implemented in software, firmware,hardware, or combinations thereof. In one or more embodiments, module102 is implemented as a series of software instructions that areexecuted by one or more processor(s) of a computing device in order toimplement the techniques discussed herein. This series of softwareinstructions may itself include all of the instructions to implementthese techniques, or alternatively may receive input from other sources(e.g., in the form of a markup language file, such as an eXtensibleMarkup Language (XML) file) that includes instructions describing how toimplement at least some of these techniques.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example system 300 using the dynamic userinterface for previewing live content discussed herein. System 300 issimilar to system 100 of FIG. 1, and includes a user interface (UI)module 102 that generates a tiled user interface 104. The informationdisplayed in user interface 104 is a preview of the live content that isavailable from one of multiple (m) galleries 106(1), . . . , 106(m). Asillustrated, gallery 106(1) includes multiple (x) content pieces 108(1),. . . , 108(x), and gallery 106(m) includes multiple (y) content pieces110(1), . . . , 110(y).

Additionally, system 300 includes a local cache 302. Local cache 302 isa local storage of information for content pieces 108 and/or 110 (and/orfor content pieces 108 and/or 110 themselves) that typically providesfaster access to data for user interface module 102 than galleries 106provide. Cache 302 can be implemented on the same device as implementsuser interface module 102, or alternatively on a different device.

When information for pieces of content for a gallery 106 is obtained,the information is stored in local cache 302. When user interface module102 subsequently displays tiled user interface 104 previewing the piecesof content in that gallery, the information displayed in the tiles isobtained from local cache 302 rather than from gallery 106. In one ormore embodiments, gallery 106 is still accessed to determine whetherthere are any changes to the pieces of content included in the gallerysince the information for the pieces of content was stored in localcache 302. The information for the pieces of content stored in localcache 302 is modified to reflect any such changes (e.g., information forpieces of content are removed, information for new pieces of content isadded, and so forth). Thus, by using local cache 302, the time requiredto display user interface 104 can be decreased in some situationsbecause at least some of the information for the pieces of content canbe obtained from local cache 302 rather than from gallery 106.

System 300 also includes one or more content sources 304 in addition togalleries 106. In certain embodiments, identifiers of the pieces ofcontent that are included in a gallery 106 are stored in the gallery106, but the actual pieces of content are not stored in the gallery 106.In such embodiments, the identifiers of the pieces of content in thegallery 106 identify one or more content sources 304 from which thepieces of content can be obtained.

System 300 further includes one or more layout templates 306. A layouttemplate identifies the layout of tiles for a particular user interface104. The tiles displayed for each user interface 104 can have differentparameters, such as different sizes, different shapes, differentlocations, different orientations, and so forth. The differentparameters for each tile for a particular user interface 104 are storedas a layout template 306. User interface module 102 accesses theselayout templates 306 and, at any given time, displays the user interface104 as defined by the layout template 306 currently being used. Userinterface module 102 can be notified of which layout template 306 touse, or alternatively module 102 can itself select which layout template306 to use (e.g., such as randomly, in accordance with some criteriaprogrammed into module 102, and so forth).

Different layout templates 306 can be identified by different users orother components. For example, the creator of user interface module 102can define one or more layout templates 306. By way of another example,any user of system 300 can define one or more layout templates 306. Byway of yet another example, each gallery can define one or more layouttemplates 306, and these templates can optionally be transmitted tomodule 102 (and optionally can be stored in local cache 302). By way ofstill another example, another user interface (such as a galleryselection interface that allows the user to select a particular gallery,as discussed in more detail below) can define one or more layouttemplates 306.

Returning to FIG. 2, the user interface 104 displayed for a particulargallery can have different layouts. These different layouts can beidentified, for example, by layout templates 306 of FIG. 3.Alternatively, these different layouts can be identified in othermanners, such as by being pre-programmed into user interface module 102.

Series 200 illustrates the transition from one layout to another for aparticular user interface. As illustrated in FIG. 2, series 200 beginswith one layout, such as the layout of user interface 202 (series 200can begin with any layout). User interface 202 is displayed for anamount of time, and then user interface 204 is displayed, after whichuser interface 206 is displayed, and after which user interface 208 isdisplayed. The series then begins again, displaying user interface 202again. In one or more embodiments, each user interface 202, 204, 206,and 208 is displayed for a particular duration of time, and then thenext user interface in the series is automatically displayed. Thisduration of time can be the same for each user interface 202, 204, 206,and 208, or alternatively may be different for different ones of userinterfaces 202, 204, 206, and 208.

The different user interfaces in series 200 are typically displayed tothe user in the same area (e.g., in the same window or portion of adisplay device). Thus, by transitioning to different user interfaceshaving different layouts, the location of the information for pieces ofcontent being displayed to the user, as well as the actual informationbeing displayed, changes; thus, the preview of the live content in theuser interface is dynamic.

In one or more embodiments, each layout can associate various parameterswith each tile that define the behavior of the tile when the userinterface based on that layout is initially displayed, allowing thetiles of the user interface to appear on the interface in a smoothmanner. Similarly, each layout can associate various parameters witheach tile that define the behavior of the tile when the user interfaceis disappearing from the interface (e.g., due to a transition to thenext user interface in the series). Additionally, each layout canassociate various parameters with each tile that define the behavior ofthe tile while the user interface is being displayed. Table Iillustrates some example parameters that can be used to define thebehavior of tiles. It is to be appreciated that the parameters in TableI are only examples; some tiles may not include these parameters, andalternatively other parameters may be used.

TABLE I Parameter Description Move Describes movement of a tile from onelocation to another. Parameters include the beginning location, theending loca- tion, and an amount of time the movement from the beginningto the ending location is to take. Size Describes a change in size of atile. Parameters include a beginning size, an ending size, and an amountof time the change from the beginning size to the ending size is totake. Show Describes a fading into view of a tile. Parameters includebeginning display characteristics (e.g., color, intensity, etc.), endingdisplay characteristics, and an amount of time the change from thebeginning display characteristics to the ending display characteristicsis to take. Hide Describes a fading out of view of a tile. Parametersinclude beginning display characteristics (e.g., color, intensity,etc.), ending display characteristics, and an amount of time the changefrom the beginning display characteristics to the ending displaycharacteristics is to take. Alpha Describes a change in opacity of thetile. Parameters include a beginning opacity value, an ending opacityvalue, and an amount of time the change from the beginning opacity valueto the ending opacity value is to take.

User interface 202 illustrates four tiles labeled as 0, 1, 2, and 3.Information for a first piece of content is displayed in tile 0,information for a second piece of content is displayed in tile 1,information for a third piece of content is displayed in tile 2, andinformation for a fourth piece of content is displayed in tile 3. Aportion of the user interface in the lower-left corner has no contentdisplayed.

User interface 204 also illustrates four tiles labeled as 0, 1, 2, and3, organized in a different pattern and having different shapes and/orsizes than those in user interface 202. As in user interface 202, inuser interface 204 the information for the first piece of content isdisplayed in tile 0, the information for the second piece of content isdisplayed in tile 1, the information for the third piece of content isdisplayed in tile 2, and the information for the fourth piece of contentis displayed in tile 3. A portion of the user interface in theupper-left corner as well as the right-hand side has no contentdisplayed.

User interface 206 illustrates five tiles labeled as 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4,organized in a different pattern and having different shapes and/orsizes than those in user interfaces 202 and 204. The information for thefirst piece of content is displayed in tile 0, the information for thesecond piece of content is displayed in tile 1, the information for thethird piece of content is displayed in tile 2, the information for thefourth piece of content is displayed in tile 3, and information for afifth piece of content is displayed in tile 4. A portion of the userinterface at the top and on the right and left sides has no contentdisplayed.

User interface 208 illustrates five tiles labeled as 1, 2, 3, 3, and 4,organized in a different pattern and having different shapes and/orsizes than those in user interfaces 202, 204, and 206. The informationfor the second piece of content is displayed in tile 1, the informationfor the third piece of content is displayed in tile 2, the informationfor the fourth piece of content is displayed in both tiles 3, and theinformation for the fifth piece of content is displayed in tile 4. Theinformation for the piece of content displayed in both tiles 3 is thesame information, although the display will be different for the twotiles because one is rectangular while the other is circular. Userinterface 208 does not have any tile 0 displaying information for apiece of content, so information for the first piece of content is notdisplayed in user interface 208. Additionally, there are no portions ofuser interface 208 that do not have content displayed; rather, tile 2(which could be referred to as a background tile) includes all of theportions of user interface 208 that are not otherwise covered by a tile1, 3, or 4.

It is to be appreciated that series 200 and user interfaces 202, 204,206, and 208 are only examples. The user interface can include anynumber of tiles organized in any manner, and each tile can have anyshape. Additionally, although user interfaces 202, 204, and 206 includeportions where no content is displayed, alternatively a user interfacemay have a background that is a piece of content included in the galleryfor which the preview is being displayed in the user interface oralternatively is some other content. This background would be similar totile 2 in user interface 208, but would not be an individual tile.Furthermore, although FIG. 2 illustrates a series 200 with four userinterface layouts, alternatively a series could include fewer than fouror greater than four user interface layouts.

As shown by the series 200 of user interfaces, series 200 presentsdifferent user interfaces to the user that allow the user to preview thepieces of content that are available from a gallery. Depending on theimplementation and how many pieces of content are included in thegallery, the user interfaces in series 200 may not display informationfor all of the pieces of content that are included in the gallery.Rather, the user interfaces in series 200 would display a preview of thecontent of the gallery, which would be information for at least some ofthe pieces of content that are included in the gallery. Additionally, bytransitioning to different user interfaces 202, 204, 206, and 208 inseries 200, the preview of the gallery presented to the user isdynamic—the preview changes, with the displays of the information forpieces of content moving to different locations on the screen, shapesand sizes changing, and even the particular information being displayedchanging.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example user interface for previewing livecontent. User interface 400 includes a window 402 and gallery options404. Different user interfaces for previewing live content are displayedin window 402. For example, series 200 of user interfaces 202, 204, 206,and 208 can be displayed in window 402. Gallery options 404 displayidentifiers of different galleries (e.g., galleries 106 of FIG. 1 orFIG. 3) that are available to the user. In the example of FIG. 4, a“photos” gallery, a “home movies” gallery, a “new on DVD” gallery and a“new music” gallery is available to the user.

The user can select one of gallery options 404 in a variety of differentmanners. For example, the user could maneuver a cursor over one of theidentifiers in options 404 and select that identifier by pressing abutton on a cursor control device. By way of another example, the usercould hover a cursor over one of the identifiers (e.g., position thecursor over the identifier for at least a threshold amount of time, suchas 1-3 seconds). Once selected, a user interface for previewing livecontent from the selected gallery is displayed in window 402. This userinterface can be a series of user interfaces, such as discussed abovewith respect to FIG. 2. Live content from different galleries can bepreviewed by selecting different identifiers from options 404.

In one or more embodiments, the user can select a tile being displayedin the user interface in window 402 (or alternatively can selectanywhere in window 402) to cause the gallery being previewed in window402 to be selected for display. The selection can be made in a varietyof different manners, such as by the user maneuvering a cursor over aportion of window 402 and pressing a button on a cursor control device.In response to the selection, user interface module 102 of FIG. 1 (oralternatively another component) presents the user interface for theselected gallery in window 402 rather than the preview of the gallery.Alternatively, the user interface for the selected gallery may bepresented in a different window. The user interface presented for thegallery can be any interface desired by the designer or administrator ofthe gallery.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example process 500 for displayinga user interface for previewing live content for a gallery. Process 500can be performed by user interface module 102 of FIG. 1 or FIG. 3, andcan be implemented in software, firmware, hardware, or combinationsthereof.

Initially, pieces of information for the content pieces currentlyavailable from a gallery are obtained (act 502). As discussed above,these pieces of information can be obtained from different sources, suchas directly from the gallery itself, from another content source, from alocal cache, and so forth. This information obtained in act 502 can bethe pieces of content themselves, or alternatively different informationsuch as a preview image, text, audio, and so forth. Such differentinformation can be in addition to, or in place of, the pieces ofcontent. Additionally, as discussed above, pieces of information can beobtained for all the current content pieces available from the gallery,or alternatively only some of the content pieces.

Which of these obtained pieces of information are to be displayed intiles for the current layout of the user interface are also identified(act 504). As discussed above, information for all of the pieces ofcontent may not be displayed in the user interface. Accordingly, onlythose that are to be displayed in the current layout for the userinterface are identified in act 504.

A user interface according to the current layout that presents theidentified information for content pieces in tiles of the user interfaceis presented (act 506). Typically this presentation is displaying theinformation, although the content pieces could alternatively bepresented in other manners (e.g., audibly). As discussed above, theinformation displayed in the tiles is a preview of the pieces of contentavailable from the gallery, and can be an actual piece of content, aportion of a piece of content, or other information. A check is thenmade as to whether there is a new user interface layout (act 508). Theuser interface with the current layout is displayed until a new layoutis to be displayed or another indication that the user interface is notto be displayed is received (e.g., the user interface is closed, theuser interface is covered by another window, etc.). When there is a newuser interface layout, process 500 returns to act 504 to identify whichinformation is to be displayed in tiles for the new layout of the userinterface.

A new user interface layout can be signaled in different manners. In oneor more embodiments, the user interface transitions to a new layout atregular or irregular intervals. A timer or other signal is used toindicate when such an interval has passed, indicating that the durationof time for displaying the user interface from the current layout haspassed and it is time for a new layout to be used. The particularinterval(s) to use can be indicated in different manners, such as beingprogrammed into user interface module 102, being identified in one ormore of the layouts, being obtained from a gallery or other contentsource, and so forth.

Although the new user interface layout can be signaled in differentmanners, it should be noted that the signaling, and thus thetransitioning to a new user interface, is done automatically. No inputis required from a user in order for the transition to occur. Thetransition occurs automatically without the user selecting a tile,without the user selecting any other displayed icon or option, andwithout the user inputting a transition request or transition command inany other way.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example process 600 for generatinga user interface for display for previewing live content for a gallery.Process 600 can be performed by user interface module 102 of FIG. 1 orFIG. 3, and can be implemented in software, firmware, hardware, orcombinations thereof. Process 600 can be, for example, act 506 of FIG.5.

Initially, the tile locations in the current layout are identified (act602). As discussed above, tiles can be positioned in different locationsin different layouts. For each tile, which piece of content is to haveits information displayed in the tile is identified (act 604). In one ormore embodiments, each piece of content is associated with a differenttile identifier (which could be, for example, the tile labelsillustrated in FIG. 2). The tile identifier for each tile is maintainedby the layout. The piece of content that is to have its informationdisplayed in the tile can be identified by identifying the tileidentifier for the tile, and then using the tile identifier to identifythe associated piece of content.

Pieces of content can be associated with tiles in different manners. Inone or more embodiments, each piece of content is associated with aparticular tile identifier as the piece of content is obtained from thegallery by user interface module 102 of FIG. 1. When a piece of contentis obtained (or information for the piece of content), it is assigned anidentifier using the same scheme as was used to assign identifiers tothe tiles (e.g., the first piece of content can be assigned anidentifier of 0, the second piece of content can be assigned anidentifier of 1, and so forth). Alternatively, each piece of content canbe associated with a tile identifier by some other component and theidentifier can be obtained by user interface module 102 as the piece ofcontent is obtained (or alternatively at some other time). This othercomponent could be a device implementing the gallery that includespieces of the component, or alternatively some other component ordevice.

The display then transitions from displaying the previous layout (ifany) to the new layout (act 606). The tiles in the new layout displaythe pieces of content identified in act 604.

In one or more embodiments, pieces of content are associated with tilesin a random manner. For example, as discussed above, the pieces ofcontent can be associated with particular tiles as the pieces of contentare obtained from the gallery.

Alternatively, pieces of content can be associated with particular tilesfollowing a particular set of rules. For example, tile identifiers canbe numbers and layouts could be designed so that one or more tiles withlower-valued numbers are displayed more prominently than other tiles(e.g., the 0 is displayed more prominently than any other tile, tile 1is displayed more prominently than any other tile except tile 0, and soforth). In the layouts, tiles with lower-valued number identifiers couldbe located more centrally on the user interface, such tiles could belarger, in a series of tiles the tiles with those identifiers may notchange locations, and so forth.

Given such a set of rules, lower-valued numbers could be assigned asidentifiers to the pieces of content that are to be displayed moreprominently. For example, the piece of content to be displayed mostprominently could be given an identifier of 0, so that it is displayedin tile 0. The identifiers could be assigned to the pieces of content byvarious entities, such as the gallery that includes the piece ofcontent, user interface module 102, or some other component or device.

Numerous usage scenarios can optionally be created using this ability todisplay certain pieces of content more prominently. For example, anadvertising fee could be charged for these lower-valued numbers,allowing the manufacturer or distributor (or user or other party) ofuser interface module 102 to collect this fee each time one of thepieces of content associated with these lower-valued number tiles isdisplayed, or to collect a fee in exchange for being able to use layoutsthat display such pieces of content more prominently. This would allow,for example, a preview of a gallery of movies to display information fora particular movie (such as a new film that a studio is promotingheavily) more prominently than other movies, or allow a preview of agallery of music albums to display an image of a particular music album(e.g., a new release) more prominently than the images of the othermusic albums.

By way of another example, these lower-valued numbers could be assignedbased on other priorities or rankings for the pieces of content,allowing information for pieces of content that are a higher priority orhaving a higher ranking to be displayed more prominently. For example,the current top ten movies or albums could be given prominence,user-supplied rankings could be used to determine rank or priority,pieces of content could be assigned a rank or priority based on howfrequently it is accessed by users and/or when it was last accessed by auser, and so forth.

Additionally, other data could be obtained from other galleries orcontent sources to be displayed in one or more of the tiles. This otherdata could be, for example, advertising data. Thus, when a userinterface previewing a gallery is presented to the user, the user isalso presented with this other data. This other data could be displayedmore prominently than the pieces of content from the gallery, oralternatively less prominently (or as prominently). Different usagescenarios could include a fee being charged to the providers of thisadvertising data, which could be paid to the user, the manufacturer ordistributor of user interface module 102, the host of the gallery, andso forth.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example computing device 700 that can beconfigured to implement the dynamic user interface for previewing livecontent in accordance with one or more embodiments. Computing device 700can implement, for example, user interface module 102 or a gallery 106of FIG. 1 or FIG. 3, or a local cache 302 or content source 304 of FIG.3.

Computing device 700 includes one or more processors or processing units702, one or more computer readable media 704 which can include one ormore memory and/or storage components 706, one or more input/output(I/O) devices 708, and one or more busses 710 that allows the variouscomponents and devices to communicate with one another. Computerreadable media 704 and/or I/O device(s) 708 can be included as part of,or alternatively may be coupled to, computing device 700. Bus 710represents one or more of any of several types of bus structures,including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, anaccelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus using any of avariety of bus architectures. Bus 710 can include wired and/or wirelessbuses.

Memory/storage component 706 represents one or more computer storagemedia. Component 706 can include volatile media (such as random accessmemory (RAM)) and/or nonvolatile media (such as read only memory (ROM),Flash memory, optical disks, magnetic disks, and so forth). Component706 can include fixed media (e.g., RAM, ROM, a fixed hard drive, etc.)as well as removable media (e.g., a Flash memory drive, a removable harddrive, an optical disk, and so forth).

One or more input/output devices 708 allow a user to enter commands andinformation to computing device 700, and also allows information to bepresented to the user and/or other components or devices. Examples ofinput devices include a keyboard, a cursor control device (e.g., amouse), a microphone, a scanner, and so forth. Examples of outputdevices include a display device (e.g., a monitor or projector),speakers, a printer, a network card, and so forth.

Various techniques may be described herein in the general context ofsoftware or program modules. Generally, software includes routines,programs, objects, components, data structures, and so forth thatperform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Animplementation of these modules and techniques may be stored on ortransmitted across some form of computer readable media. Computerreadable media can be any available medium or media that can be accessedby a computing device. By way of example, and not limitation, computerreadable media may comprise “computer storage media” and “communicationsmedia.”

“Computer storage media” include volatile and non-volatile, removableand non-removable media implemented in any method or technology forstorage of information such as computer readable instructions, datastructures, program modules, or other data. Computer storage mediainclude, but are not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or othermemory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or otheroptical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which canbe used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by acomputer.

“Communication media” typically embody computer readable instructions,data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated datasignal, such as carrier wave or other transport mechanism. Communicationmedia also include any information delivery media. The term “modulateddata signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristicsset or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal.By way of example, and not limitation, communication media include wiredmedia such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wirelessmedia such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media.Combinations of any of the above are also included within the scope ofcomputer readable media.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above.Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed asexample forms of implementing the claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving a selectionfrom a user to define a current tiled user interface layout thatincludes multiple tiles each configured to display content from anassociated content gallery; displaying the content on the multiple tilesin the current tiled user interface layout, the content of at least oneof the tiles corresponding to respective files and folders that areincluded in a folder that represents the associated gallery of the atleast one tile and is accessible based on a selection of the at leastone tile in the current tiled user interface layout; and transitioningto display a next tiled user interface layout that includes one or moreof the multiple tiles displaying the content from the associated contentgallery or different content from the associated content gallery, thetransitioning based in part on parameters that define behaviors for eachof the multiple tiles when disappearing from the current tiled userinterface layout to display the next tiled user interface layout.
 2. Amethod as recited in claim 1, further comprising: receiving anadditional selection from the user to select a tile; and displaying morethan one of the different pieces of content from the associated contentgallery of the tile that is selected.
 3. A method as recited in claim 1,further comprising: obtaining an update to the content of an updatedcontent gallery; and changing a tile that is associated with the updatedcontent gallery to display the update to the content.
 4. A method asrecited in claim 1, wherein the associated content gallery of the atleast one tile comprises at least one of animation content, a slideshowof digital image content, or video content.
 5. A method as recited inclaim 1, wherein the associated content gallery of the at least one tilecomprises digital images stored locally on a device that displays thecontent on the multiple tiles.
 6. A method as recited in claim 1,wherein the associated content gallery of the at least one tilecomprises the content from a remote content service.
 7. A method asrecited in claim 1, wherein the at least one tile is configured todisplay two or more different types of the content concurrently.
 8. Amethod as recited in claim 1, wherein the different pieces of thecontent displayed by the at least one tile includes images, text, orvideo content.
 9. A method comprising: obtaining content from one ormore content galleries, at least one of the content galleries beingremote to the device; storing the content in a local cache of thedevice; accessing the content from the local cache to display pieces ofthe content on tiles of a current tiled user interface layout, each ofthe tiles corresponding to a respective content gallery and displaying apiece of the content from the respective content gallery, at least oneof the tiles being selectable to access a folder representative of therespective content gallery and including the pieces of the content ofthe respective content gallery, the folder providing file system-basedaccess to files and folders represented by the pieces of the content ofthe respective content gallery; and accessing the content from the localcache to transition to display a next tiled user interface layout thatincludes one or more of the tiles displaying the pieces of the contentor different pieces of the content, the transition to display the nexttiled user interface layout based in part on parameters that definebehaviors for initially displaying each new tile that appears on thenext tiled user interface layout.
 10. A method as recited in claim 9,further comprising displaying a description of the content in arespective content gallery on a tile that corresponds to the respectivecontent gallery.
 11. A method as recited in claim 9, further comprising:generating an image that represents the content in a respective contentgallery; and displaying the image on a tile that corresponds to therespective content gallery.
 12. A method as recited in claim 9, whereinat least one of the pieces of the content is content metadata that isassociated with a respective content gallery.
 13. A method as recited inclaim 9, wherein at least one of the current tiled user interface layoutor the next tiled user interface layout is configured by a user.
 14. Amethod as recited in claim 9, further comprising: receiving a selectionof one of the tiles that is displayed in the current tiled userinterface layout; obtaining multiple pieces of the content from therespective content gallery that corresponds to the selected tile; anddisplaying the multiple pieces of the content on multiple tiles in thenext tiled user interface layout.
 15. A method as recited in claim 14,further comprising transitioning to the next tiled user interface layoutresponsive to said receiving the selection of one of the tiles.
 16. Adevice-implemented method as recited in claim 14, wherein the next tileduser interface layout has at least one of a different quantity of tiles,the tiles displayed in different locations, different sizes of thetiles, or different shapes of the tiles.
 17. A computing device,comprising: an integrated display device configured to display contenton multiple tiles in a tiled user interface layout; a processing systemto implement a user interface module that is configured to: initiate acurrent tiled user interface layout that includes multiple tiles eachconfigured to display the content from an associated content gallery, atleast one of the tiles configured to be selected through the currenttiled user interface layout to access one or more file foldersrepresented in the associated content gallery, each of the file foldersconfigured to provide file system-based access to content filesrepresentative of pieces of the content included in the file folder andadditional file folders arranged in the file system under the one ormore file folders; and transition at least one of the tiles to displaydifferent pieces of the content from the associated content gallery ofthe at least one tile, the transition of the at least one tile performedin conjunction with a transition from the current tiled user interfacelayout to display a next tiled user interface layout, the transitionfrom the current tiled user interface based at least in part on tilehide parameters that define behaviors for each of the multiple tileswhen disappearing from the current tiled user interface layout todisplay the next tiled user interface layout.
 18. A computing device asrecited in claim 17, wherein the multiple tiles in the current tileduser interface layout are configured to one of: each display a differentpiece of the content from a same associated content gallery; display thecontent from two or more of the associated content galleries; or eachdisplay a piece of the content from different associated contentgalleries that each correspond to a respective one of the multipletiles.
 19. A computing device as recited in claim 17, wherein the userinterface module is configured to: receive a selection of one of themultiple tiles that is displayed in the current tiled user interfacelayout; and transition to the next tiled user interface layout todisplay the content from the respective content gallery on additionaltiles that all correspond to the respective content gallery.
 20. Acomputing device as recited in claim 17, wherein: the user interfacemodule is configured to generate an image that represents the content inan associated content gallery; and the integrated display device isconfigured to display the image on a tile that corresponds to theassociated content gallery.